System of a Down

System of a Down are an Armenian American quartet based out of Los Angeles, and one of the few major nu-metal bands whose popularity far exceed, and then outlived, largely unscathed, that particular style’s limited life span as a dominance musical force. Active in one shape or another since 1992, System of a Down was eventually championed by producer-to-the-stars, Rick Rubin, who signed them to his American Recordings in 1997. For a while, though, it seemed as though SOAD’s eponymous debut (a game-changing, critically acclaimed affair, once described as Faith no more jamming with Slayer) might prove too original and idiosyncratic to attract a mainstream audience. But, with the help of relentless touring over a near-three-year period and the resulting, snowballing word-of-mouth, System of a Down saw their 2001 sophomore LP, ‘Toxicity,’ explode straight to number one upon release, eventually selling an estimated 12 million copies worldwide. A collection of unfinished demos named ‘Steal this Album’ was released in late 2002, after MP3s of the songs were accidentally leaked, and the band’s popularity continued to build, up to and beyond, the dual release of ‘Mezmerize’ [SIC] and ‘Hypnotize’ in 2005, both of which also debuted at number one. The following year, SOAD initiated an official, four-year hiatus while its principals explored other projects, and the group reunited for touring purposes in 2010, with no immediate plans to record new material.